Trobriand Cricket

In Nicholas Thomas’ book Colonialism Culture: Anthropology, Travel and Government, he argues that colonialism is a cultural process and not a cultural system, meaning that colonialism isn’t simply a system of overstepping a foreign culture and manipulating it into your own in the ways of politics and economics, it’s a unique relationship involving signs, metaphors, and narratives. To truly understand the process and result of colonialism, we need to recognize and acknowledge there is a difference between the depth and the oppression of the different western colonizers, some colonizing with a larger intensity and more fatal impact. The distinction between different ruling powers and conquerers needs to be made, because without taking that step …show more content…
The film reveals the distinct and unique way that natives of the Trobriand island (east of Papua New Guinea) coped with the imposed social change set by the British rule, far different from any other impact that had been seen before. When speaking about the sport, the Trobriand natives refer to it as something that “the white man” brought, and they wanted to make it into something of their own. The game has heavily strayed from the original British version of cricket, with the only real remaining similarities being very surface; There’s still a bat and ball, and players still score runs, fields and make outs, but that is about where the similarities end. The Trobriand style of cricket had become more of a cultural dance and ceremony compared to the traditional idea of a game or sport, with the Trobriand incorporating chanting and rhythmic movements, and the home team always being the winner. This is an example of colonialism being a process, because while the British intended to imprint Christian values and Western economics, the only real influence they had was the one sport, and the other …show more content…
When realizing the negative impact that colonialism has had on many different societies, it’s hard to look at tales of colonization in a positive or even objective light. It is important, though, because without taking an objective stance, researchers and anthropologists wouldn’t be able to look at the how and why of the impact and influence left by western colonizers, the Trobriand cricket being an example of this. On page 17, Thomas writes, “The aim is not to rehabilitate imperial efforts, but to understand how far any why they were (and are) supported by various classes and interest groups… as to help explain why how something that was recognized in a range of those involved as a brutal exercise in dispossession could also be represented as a progressive, collectivist form of pioneering that redressed rather than created a historical injustice” (17, Thomas). While it is easy to look at the injustices that plagued the colonization movements, it’s necessary to understand why it was supported by many different groups and researchers at the time, and why it was opposed by